Archon: Facilitating Global Access to Collections in Small Archives

A significant portion of the world's historical papers and records are preserved not by large centralized government repositories, but isolated in modest humble academic and municipal archives and special collections libraries. These repositories often find it difficult to provide electronic access to their collections information. Archon is a collections management tool that was developed by the University of Illinois to help augment such access for these unique repositories. Archon is an easy, web-based application created specifically for describing archival materials and providing access to digital objects. It includes collection management features most commonly used by archives and special collections libraries and supports all relevant descriptive standards that ensure effective interoperability with other information access systems and resources. Archon can play a significant role in larger efforts to augment access to special collections within local contexts used to supplement regional and international projects. The University of Illinois is seeking to engage a broad user community in defining and implementing innovative extensions to its existing application to better serve archives and special collections libraries and their users.